This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a cell phone battery crammed into a mouse to increase capacity, but we think this one has been done quite nicely. [Phil] managed to fit a 2.7 – 4.2v Li-Poly battery in the mouse’s palm rest, where there was a little extra empty space. The battery can be charged from any USB port via a custom-built charging module, which he constructed using a MAX1555 charge controller. Another custom-built circuit resides in the space previously occupied by the AA batteries, which uses an MC340063 DC to DC converter to drop the battery’s voltage down to the 1.25v required by the mouse.

The only part of the build that [Phil] is not pleased with is the power switch on the bottom, but since you rarely see that, we could care less. We think it is quite well done, and with a second version already in the works, we anticipate that it will get even better.

Be sure to check out [Phil’s] video tour of the hack, which you can see below.

It is a nicely done piece of work, but I always thought the point of wireless is to not have to plug it in. What if we made an optical mouse that had a ball in it so when you roll the ball, you charge the circuitry, so moving it provided the power…

@dude: What are you on about? Did you not understand that there is a battery in there? You know, those little magic boxes that makes gadgets go without cords? Now, them little magic boxes occasionally run out of magic and then you need to put more magic into them to make them work again. One way to do that is via a USB cable.

@Ubel
actually it should be simple with a bit of shielding and a mousepad that will transmit wireless power to the mouse. but you’re still stuck with a cord. i suppose using the heat generated from your hand could run it if it were ultra low voltage.

correction: there is nothing (yet) as MC340063, it is the MC34063. A better option would be to use a 1.2v GP recyco plus and charge it directly from USB using a large current limiting resistor. would last for ages. A good concept though.

@Andy: that actually very much exists already (a friend of mine is using one), and it is in my opinion the only kind of wireless mouse worthy of use. As long as you keep it on it’s pad, you never need to worry.

Not a good hack . Coz a cell phone battery can either explode or leak or even blot up if over charged and I assume this hack doesn’t have anyway to control the power flow needed to charge the battery , just get a pair of 1000 mah rechargable aaa or aa sony or camillion cells , it lasts forever and can take up to 3 years of recharging if handled correctly. But by the way not a bad effort !